Dwight returns; “Creative compartments” etc etc

Right, am sick of *not* putting daily posts. Most of what I put up will be quick stuff – stuff I’ve typed up from various reading thinking “hmm, must do summat with that”. Well, if I just accumulate, without dispersing, I help nobody, inc. self…

Here’s the first quote, on hierarchy….

Creative Compartments: A design for future organisation
Gerard Fairtlough

Hierarchies work particularly well when there are only a few well-educated, knowledgeable people available, whose knowledge is clearly advantageous for the organisation, or when the people at the top have a clear vision, for which some reason cannot easily be shared with the rest of the organisation. This was certainly the case a hundred years ago, when hierarchies were starting to proliferate. It was also the case more recently. Amid the confusion after the Second World War, the top-down policies, set by senior management, were readily accepted. But the experts from the centre quickly taught their colleagues on the periphery, and as a result the expert became to be less valuable. By the 1960s the central office started to be resented, and since the 1970s, at least in business, the hierarchical mode of organisation has come under pressure.

So why do hierarchies continue I believe the reasons are, first, the love of power, and, second, the fear of change. If what might replace a hierarchy is unfamiliar and unproven, resistance to change must be expected, and not only from the top but throughout the organisation.